Documentaries

 You are going to read four reviews of a book about documentary films. For questions 37-40, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.

 

Documentaries - do they have a future?

Four reviewers comment on journalist Sharon Miller's book

 

A

The documentary has recently become a field of serious study, the latest entrant to which being 8haron Miller's new book. As a journalist, her credentials might be regarded as somewhat suspect, but in fact not being a filmmaker herself enables her to take a more objective approach than is often the case. For example, she criticises the TV companies for not satisfying the public's appetite for quality documentaries, but without the anger that a documentary maker might feel. It is hard to fault her analysis of this situation. The same applies to Miller's final chapter, in which she explains why documentaries shown on the big screen will eventually evolve into full-Iength films commanding as much attention as the standard cinema material. 8he may prove wrong on detail, but her conclusions are convincing. Miller rarely makes claims she cannot substantiate, and her thorough reading of much of the existing literature clearly informs her argument.

 

B

 It is a relief to read that Miller believes the documentary has a glorious future, even if I would reach the same destination by a different route. However, that is one of few assertions that I can concur with; for instance, she blames television companies for their caution with regard to documentaries, without taking into account the numerous constraints that they suffer. Miller is, no doubt, a skilled journalist, and can put together a plausible article whenever one is required. But while that may suit a newspaper which is read and then forgotten, a book stakes a claim to be long-Iasting; and Miller is clearly unaware of many aspects of the world in which documentary makers operate. To her credit, though, she has included an extensive bibliography, but to be brutally frank, the book is no more than a just-about-adequate summary of earlier studies.

 

C

Sharon Miller, while primarily a journalist, has also written an excellent introduction to the sociology of social media, and her new book, Documentaries, is further evidence that she is a writer to be reckoned with. Her reading on the subject is extensive, and forms a firm foundation for her argument, that the documentary film is far from being the endangered species it seemed not long ago. With a few minor reservations, I was carried along by her optimism about its future. It is only when Miller turns her attention to documentaries on television that I feel the need to take issue with her. Although many of the television companies are certainly as guilty of ignoring the documentary as she claims, there are also many, admittedly smaller, companies that have done sterling service in stretching the boundaries of the genre.

 

D

As a former television programme controller myself, I can back up Sharon Miller's opinion of the TV companies' attitude towards documentaries. The little that some companies have done to advance the genre is easily outweighed by the harm done by the majority. I was also taken by her overview of earlier studies of the documentary. It is thorough, and she is careful to ensure that both her facts and her opinions are consistent with what her predecessors have established. The only time she comes to grief, in my view, is in the rosy future she promises for the documentary: the evidence underpinning her assertion simply doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. What it comes down to is that Miller's work is rather too hit-and-miss: she picks a topic - the documentary - apparently at random, and does a fair amount of research into it, but it takes the inside knowledge she lacks to turn that into the definitive account she was aiming to write.

 

Which reviewer…

has a different opinion from reviewer B regarding Miller's view of the future of documentaries? 37.-____

shares an opinion with reviewer e on the subject of Miller's qualifications for writing the book? 38.-____

takes a different view from the others on Miller's use of earlier studies? 39.-____

holds the same opinion as reviewer A concerning Miller's position on television documentaries? 40.-____

 

O’Dell, Felicity (2015) Advanced Trainer. 2^nd edition. Reading and Use of English Part 6 Test 4. Cambridge University Press: Dubai. Pages 136 and 137.